♪ ♪ brian: this is dw news live from berlin. i directly and -- tonight, iraqui and kurdish forces celebrating. the military move comes weeks a fter the kurds declared independence from baghdad. a move many rejected. an explosion in mogadishu has u

killed over 200 people. and voters turn right in austria, we take a look at what this means for europe. and in a dw exclusive, we meet a man helping german authorities to track down jihadists. ♪ brent: iraq's military is reporting progress tonight but not in the fight against islamic state. iraqi forces have moved in to the city of kirkuk in a bold campaign to regain land from the

kurds. tension has the high -- has been high in the region, following the referendum vote last month. tonight there is talk of a new civil war in the making. correspondent: celebrations in kirkuk as iraqi forces move in. supporters of the iraqi central government could not contain their joy after a day when troops retook key installations. kirkuk has been under kurdish control since islamic state militants swept through the region in 2014. it comes three weeks after residents in the kyrgyzstan region -- kurdistan region

voted for independence from baghdad in a controversial referendum. >> we are heading to irbil because the situation is getting worse. iraqi treats have entered and there is no way we could stay. i was afraid there would be clashes and mortars could fall on us. correspondent: prior to the retaking of kirkuk, baghdad said it does not look a confrontation but leaders say it is a declaration of war. brent: more with correspondent cathy, she is in a region 100 kilometers north of kirkuk. we have seen images of people supporting the iraqi government

on return to the kurdish region. what are you hearing from your sources in kirkuk. correspondent: it is a mixed picture tonight in kirkuk. the activity went on until the afternoon. people are telling me the iraqi convoy came in and started monitoring -- motoring and firing. some say they could not withsand that and withdrew. there are multiple levels of tensions. some residents celebrating. some residents just relieved and some have seen this before

because it has been a flashpoint in this conflict. brent: what about predictions of a new civil war rising out of this? do think this situation could defend into a civil war -- desce nd into a civil war. correspondent: it is very hard to predict and it would be irresponsible to predict. if iraqi forces move into further disputed regions, we might see more sporadic clashes. there could be intra-kurdish clashes in the kurdistan region between the forces that withdrew and the ones that chose to fight. let's hope this dive down and it was a -- this dies down and it

was a temporary problem. the city is back under control it had before isis moved in. brent: the kurdish and iraqi forces fight together in the campaign against islamic state. what implications will this offensive have for the fight against terrorism? correspondent: i spoke to a major in the iraqi counterterrorism forces and he was in the central offices in kirkuk. these are the forces are taking i -- partaking in the fight against isis in mosul.

this creates a headache for the americans. the u.s. coalition have armed and trained both sides of this conflict. there is a question about misuse of weapons supplied by the americans. definitely concerns going forward. i do not think it will impact isis in the area but isis could take advantage of the insecurity. let's hope they do not see an opening. brent: thank you for reporting for us north of kirkuk where the latest clashes between iraqi and jukurdish forces are clashing. to mogadishu now where a

bombing took place. it is the deadliest single attack in the country's history. correspondent: two days after the blast, he once crowded street in the heart of mogadishu lies in ruins. emergency workers still recovering bodies from the rubble but they say it will be difficult to determine how many were killed. so many victims completely charred by the flames. d they are worried about those who might still be alive. >> we heard those under the rubble screaming for help. even the way did are succumbing to they --even the wounded are succumbing to their injuries. this was a horrendous attack. correspondent: and hospitals, doctors are busy treating the wounded.

these critically injured victims are being evacuated by air to turkey for further treatment. many relatives scattered at the airport, looking for the best for their loved ones. the tragedy began on saturday when a truck packed with hundreds of kilos of explosives blew up near a busy district in mogadishu. the blast leveled several buildings and set a nearby tanker on fire. >> it was a massacre what happened on saturday. i have never seen such a thing. i witnessed a little boy's head on the ground and his family was also decapitated. correspondent: he was one of those who joined millions of somalians in a demonstration to

protest the attack. the terrorist group al-shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack. brent: a car bomb has killed the best-known investigative journalist and malta. daphne galizia ran a bloghat linked an executive to a scandal. in spain, fires killed at least three people. authorities say wind from tropical storm opheilia have

worsened the flames. tropical storm ophelia landed in ireland, killing people. the country says it is the worst storm in have a century. they haven't canceled flights -- they have canceled flights. spain has ordered two members of catalonia's pro-independence movement have been jailed. judges are investigating the role they played in demonstrations in barcelona last month. this comes amid tensions between barcelonand madrid after catalonia's disputed vote for inpendence.

the british prime minister and the european commission have agreed to accelerate a brexit deal. they made the announcement today in a statement after may travel to bsselfor an evening meeting. this comes in a crucial moment ahead of a summit of eu leaders. they will decide if negotiators and go on to discuss post brexit trade ties with britain. many in the u.k. fear that britain will leave the block without a trade deal in place. tonight, austria is on the verge of having a conservative nationalist govnment with some far right policies. conservative leader sebastian kurz came out the leader in the election, which saw him adopt the anti-immigration policies of his extreme far right opponent. the coalition has yet to be negotiated, but kurz apparently

needs the far right freedom party. correspondent: a day after the election, the conservative party is basking in success. their leader, sebastian kurz has become a success after becoming the clear election winner. >> austrian needs a change. >> i hope there will be a restart in austria. correspondent: no party won an absolute majority said the country will need a coalition government. as the largest party, the conservatives say they are ready to lead a coalition government. >> we have seen a push for change in this country. i thank you for making it possible. correspondent: kurz most likely ally is the party that came in

third. >> we are now a political force in the domestic austrian political landscape. correspondent: the incumbent chancellor and the social democrat solve their -- saw their support slip, putting them into second place. still, kurz says he is ready to enter a coalition government. >> we assess a criteria. this will be our benchmark. correspondent: observers are expecting complicated talks ahead. brent: that, following last month's election results here in germany. german chancellor angela merkel says austria's shift to the right is not a role model for this country, especially when it comes to immigration. she said this after her party's second-place finish in lower saxony's regional election.

this could complicate the chancellor's efforts to form a governing coalition. she faces a round of talks with the free democrats and the how many former fighter for so-called islamic state are living right here in germany, well, the estimate is in the hundreds. germany security authorities are working to detect islamist militants living among us. we met the man hunting down the jihadists. this report is part of the exclusive documentary. >> he is a syrian kurd who fled his homeland in 2016. he and his mother used the so-called balkan route to get to germany. >> i took the decision of

leaving for some security reasons. no person like to leave his home town and city and his country. correspondent: he is not your average refugee. the former video journalist was a prisoner for 280 days in the various torture chambers of the so-called islamic state. is militants ambushed him and his colleagues on their way to do an interview. they were both kidnapped. >> i was in raqqa prison. 100 days. it was a football stadium in the main city center of raqqa. correspondent: he experienced months of torture while in six different prisons run by is. he said he came face to face with numerous supporters of the militant group. >>-supporters were telling me

how they act as they were finding all these killings and torturing, he found a useful. correspondent: he was eventually released as part of a prisoner exchange. he quickly fled to germany. upon arrival, he found some of the same militants he met in prison here in europe. among the masses of migrants who fled northern syria in 2014 and 2015 were members of militant organization. he may have valuable information on two of the largest groups of authorities are interested in. >> there are is militants to come to europe with the intention of carrying out terrorism. and there are is fighters who want to remove themselves from active combat. correspondent: how critical is the information supplied by refugees? >> based on our experience, 80%

of the leads are reliable. correspondent: an overwhelming majority of the information refugee supply is defaming someone and false. correspondent: the authorities investigating follow a fine line but follow-up every test given to them by -- every tip given to them by refugees. >> we saw an i.s. fighter on the internet proudly talking about their actions on the internet. now they are much mro--much more careful. correspondent: germany's intelligence agency is

investigating over 650 leads about i.s. operatives living in the country. brent: and if you want to know more about this story you can watch the documentary on our website. go to dw.com. personnel, time -- first time, a check on business news. correspondent: they are hungry for more, there has hardly been time for the dust to settle since loose council -- since lufthansa bought air berlin. now it is eyeing another airline. correspondent: italian airline alitalia recently received a line of credit from the italian

government to continue operations until a new buyer is found. lufthansa is offering a couple of million euros for the alitalia aviation business. half of the employees of italy's largest airline could lose their jobs. that is more than 6000 people. that is the same situation faced by the employees of airberlin. lufthansa is said to be interested only in certain alitalia routes. no ohtether buyer are lining up to bid for other parts of the airline. the good news for alitalia is the extra credit it received from the time government. brent: one of the companies

making traditional carmakers nervous is tesla but things are not running smooth for them either. tesla fired over 700 office staff after receiving bad performance reviews. it is firing more staff than it is making cars. many customers are still waiting on their model three. the silicon valley car company expects to complete 100,000 at the end of the year. despite massive layoffs, tesla is looking to hire hundreds of employees. jenz is on wall street. is this a sign teslas struggling or is this a ordinary shakeup of personnel? correspondent: tesla is saying they're doing the interviews of the performance of their workers on a frequent level and it was

not satisfied with the findings. on the other side, there is a lot of speculation going on, if tesla can meet the high production target and wall street is getting a bit nervous. the stock was down by about 1.5% and for the month tesla is down 8%. if you compared to last december when the stock was trading around $200 and now it is trading around $350. but there is a doubt that tesla can meet the production target anytime soon. >> apple stock rose today after a boutique investment upgraded the company. why now? correspondent: analysts are optimistic that if apple cannot

sell more phones they can at least play around with the price tag. the newer model, 10 or x, it costs around $1000 a piece. analysts say people are willing to pay this price. if you have more expensive product, it will increase your profit margin and your product. the stock traded by 2% up and we are not even 50 points shy to meet 23,000 points. brent: thank you very much. now to an icon of the german car industry. the old vw beetle is getting a new life.

if you find yourself in this mexico city district, you maybe hailing one for a ride. correspondent: this is the beetle capital of the world. here the roads are so steep and narrow that public transportation is not possible. that is where the feisty beetle comes in. >> people from the area knows this as beetle land. a survey last year counted over 2000 beetle taxis. officially registered taxis do not dare venture here because the crowd filled neighborhood is notoriously dangerous. but the gap has become an opportunity for many drivers who have turned their beetle into a source of income. >> it is cheap when it comes to

gasoline and its spare parts. correspondent: they may be old, but the vw bugs continue to do their job after the last one rolled off of the production line in puebla 15 years ago. brent: china's central bank is forecasting growth of 7% in the last part of this year, despite widespread fears of an economic slowdown. numbers in the month of september have boosted hope in the world's largest economy. the bank forecast comes as china party leaders prepare to meet on wednesday. it is being called the most intensely observed astronomical event today. scientists around the world has witnessed the collision of two ultradense stars for the very

first time. the collision of the stars= called neutron stars, was so powerfully caused a ripple in the fabric of space. astronomers focused their telescopes on the event. scientists say collisions like this are likely responsible for most of the gold and platinum that exist in the universe. and here is a reminder of the top stories we are following, there have been celebrations in kirkuk as iraqi forces move into the kurdish held city. a move that could transform the balance of power in iraqi. thousands of kurds have fled the city. searches are continuing for people trapped in the truck bomb in the city of mogadishu. over 300 people are confirmed today. you can always get dw news on

the go, download our app from google play in the apple store. you can also use the dw out to send us photos and videos. stay with dw news. after a short break, i'll be back to take you through the day. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

reyes: a pesticide sprayed on plantations in nicaragua for decades continues to cause controversy and alleged illness. did it poison people? i'm elaine reyes in washington, dc, and this is "americas now." first up, northern nicaragua was once abundant with agricultural wealth, but locals say that changed when a pesticide was sprayed on fields and adversely affected workers' health. [woman speaking spanish] interpreter: look at this. every banana plantation worker has it. i have it. my partner has it. look at our skin. it is stained. this is what the poison did to us. reyes: correspondent grace gonzalez reports on the toxin nemagon and tells us about the legal steps former workers are taking to try and get compensation.